Hydrology and Water Sustainability Syllabus with Curated Online Resources for Remote Teaching
Do you need online resources for emergency remote teaching of hydrology and water sustainability courses?
You can use and share these curated online resources (websites, videos, games, articles and quizzes) so that students:
1) get course content from diverse sources, voices and perspectives;
2) can relate course content to their life; and
3) can practice course content.
Tom Gleeson started this for CIVE 340 at University of Victoria, a required 3rd year civil engineering course starting and ending with water sustainability, with a core of hydrology (textbook: Mays’ Water Resources Engineering) - you can download the full syllabus, presentations and assignments for this course from hydroshare. He will use these online resources this fall for both synchronous classes and asynchronous student-led activities - and so can you! The quality and veracity of content online is hugely variable, but we strive to only reference quality sources such as universities and governmental organizations. Compiled by Tom Gleeson, Sam Zipper, Alan Fryar and others from endless web searches, CUAHSI HydroShare, Anne Jefferson’s Compendium, Kevin McGuire’s Videos and Online Resources, Riccardo Rigon’s Videos and slides, AGU H3S, Denitza Voutchkova’s Show Us More Videos.
Are we missing a resource? If so, add the resource as a comment below (or send us an email or tweet). If you are struggling with where to put a resource, just put it at the bottom of the document. Adding resources could be a useful contribution to our discipline and your teaching CV. We need help the most with:
* Probability and statistics in hydrology
* Sustainable water resource management
* Principles of hydraulic flow, control volume and hydrologic budgets
* Quizzes and formative evaluation tools for most topics
TOPIC
1. Videos, blogs and websites of EXPLAINING CONTENT
2. Webtools, games, articles, podcasts or videos for students to RELATE CONTENT TO THEIR LIFE
3. Quizzes/tools for formative EVALUATION
1. Introduction and water footprints: Why hydrology and water resources? global water uses and problems; water footprint and scarcity; water uses spatially and by sector
Course content:
-What is water used for?
-What is hydrology? (USGS)
- Importance of water and sanitation (UN video) and water as human right (UN)
-water footprints, availability and use (UNESCO video)
Advanced content:
- Water use and stress (Our world in data)
- Water scarcity (FAO)
-Thirsty planet (Economist; pdf)
-Anthropogenic Drought and Environmental Change (TEDx)
-Water footprint network
-Explore Aquamaps (FAO water and agriculture map interface), Water Risk Filter (WWF) or Aqueduct (WRI water risk map interface)
-Calculate your water footprint -Play River Basin Game (Twente)
-Answer: what do you think is the world’s biggest water problem? (USGS)
- consider your personal water use (takepart video) or ‘water we eat’(Barilla)
-check out cheeky WWF video for environmentalists in class...
2. Water budgets and where we find water: Principles of hydraulic flow; control volume and hydrologic budgets across spatial and temporal scales; global water distribution and residence times; intro to watersheds, lakes, glaciers and groundwater
Course content:
- Water cycle video or article (Khan)
- Water Cycle (NBC Learn video)
- Hydrological Cycle and Water Budgets (encyclopedia)
- properties of Water (Richard Kern video)
-What Is A Watershed? (Battle River Watershed video)
Advanced content:
-why water is weird (pocket)
-water cycle depictions missing humans (AGU)
-Answer: What is your favorite water body? (USGS)
-Interactive water cycle (USGS)
-Explore water storage patterns from GRACE satellite (CNES/GRGS)
-Explore global watershed art
Water properties true/false (USGS)
How much water is in Crater Lake?
3. Atmospheric and land surface processes: Weather and the atmosphere; precipitation; evaporation and transpiration; infiltration
Course content::
- Specific heat of water (Khan)
- How do things cool with evaporation? (WIRED)
-Measuring precipitation: rain gauges and point precipitation data sources (Anne Jefferson)
- Measuring evapotranspiration components (Anne Jefferson)
-Soil Moisture and Infiltration (Anne Jefferson)
-soil moisture experiment video
Advanced content:
-Atmospheric Water and Precipitation;
Evapotranspiration, Physical properties of water (encyclopedia)
-Measuring precipitation: radar and satellite based measurements (Anne Jefferson)
-Potential for natural evaporation as a reliable renewable energy resource (Nature Communications)
Climate analogue webtool: What will climate in your favourite North American city feel like in 60 years? (Fitzpatrick & Dunn 2019)
Answer LeBron James’ question: Why does sweating cool you down? (Khan)
Consider: Will your ski hill have snow near the end of the century? (EOS article; NOAA article).
- Evapotranspiration calculator (FAO)
Practice questions on temperature and state changes in water (Khan)
4. Groundwater processes: Occurrence and movement of groundwater; hydraulic head; groundwater; surface water interactions and conjunctive use
Course content:
- Groundwater (encyclopedia)
- Groundwater fundamentals (NGWA)
- What Is Groundwater? by KQED QUEST
Advanced content:
- Water as One Resource (American Geosciences Institute short course)
-Groundwater/hydrogeology links and videos (IAH)
-Groundwater use game/app (link to NAGT lesson materials) (link to website)
- Global Groundwater Information System (IGRAC)
Run an experiment in Digital Sand Tank Model (Colorado School of Mines)
Groundwater true/false (USGS)
5. Surface water processes: Streamflow/runoff processes and flow measurement; rainfall-runoff analysis and modelling; stream processes and characteristics
Course content:
- Streamflow Generation (Anne Jefferson)
-Streamflow measuring and data (Anne Jefferson)
Explore Free Rivers augmented reality app (WWF) or BC Water Tools (Foundry Spatial Ltd.) for a region you're interested in.
-Compare stream discharge in two watersheds in Glacier National Park
6. Probability and statistics in hydrology: Probability and frequency analysis; non-stationarity
Advanced content:
- USGS Statistical Methods in Water Resources
-Stochastic Hydrology Course Guide
- play Before the Storm (board game)
- Consider how to statistically win a game of Monopoly? (watch video)
- Consider the likelihood of weather dependent sporting events such as the Elfstedentocht (Eleven cities tour) - a skating event only held during extreme winters in the Netherlands. The last one was held in 1997 (Visser and Petersen 2009).
7. Open and closed channel flow: flooding , and floodplain analysis; reservoir and river routing and floodplain analysis
Course content:
- What is Bernoulli's equation? (Khan)
- Flooding (Anne Jefferson)
-Calculate Flood Days and Good Canoeing Days at Congaree National Park
-Play Upstream-Downstream or Sai Fah - The Flood fighter! (phone game)
8. Water distribution systems
Course content:
- Drinking Water Distribution Systems (EPA)
- How Do Our Water Systems Work? (BCWWA)
-play SeGWADE...Serious Game for WDS Analysis, Design & Evaluation (Exeter)
-consider role of water distribution systems in Flint water crisis
9. Sustainable water resource management: Goals, perspectives, and role of engineers/scientists; integrated water resource management; virtual water, water footprints, sustainability and ethics; water economics
Advanced content:
-Water management (WRR commentary)
- Room for the river (Netherlands water management project)
-watch California drought solutions (TEDx) or Solar Water Project (TEDx)
-critique Water resource management (World Bank)
- play The World Water Game (U of T)
-listen to Water in Real Life Podcast
Water Conservation quizzes (study.com or proprofs)
More sources (just in case you need more!):
NAGT: https://nagt.org/nagt/teaching_resources/index.html
Main Webpage for the Entire Geology of National Parks Collection: https://serc.carleton.edu/sp/ssac/national_parks/index.html
Lejo Flores hydrological modeling course materials: https://github.com/LejoFlores/GEOS_518
Dry Creek Watershed educational materials: https://www.boisestate.edu/drycreek/educational-resources/
NASA Scientific visualization
USGS pages
Anne Jefferson’s Compendium
Podcasts: Jay’s What’s up with water? Nat Geo Overhead podcast about Ice Stupas
https://www.hydrol-earth-syst-sci.net/special_issue152.html
Other possible games: https://games4sustainability.org/water-games/ opCollection , Encyclopedia of water Science, that UVic has access to. WATER SCIENCE ENCYCLO http://voyager.library.uvic.ca/vwebv/holdingsInfo?bibId=1733245
https://www.sciencedirect.com/referencework/9780123706263/encyclopedia-of-inland-waters
Important resources for other instructors: CUAHSI Hydroshare’s Educational Resources for Hydrology & Water Resources
ECSTATIC (Peer-reviewed teaching resources in hydrology and water resources) https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/ecstatic_all/